Redundancy – you always think it would never happen to you, but recent news articles show that even if you work for one of the more well-established companies, that can all change overnight.

In this job, a good proportion of the people we speak to are looking for a new job as they have been made redundant, or redundancies are coming up, or maybe they escaped this round of redundancies but don’t want to risk waiting to see if it happens to them in 6 months’ time. If you are “lucky” – your employer made you aware well in advance, given you chance to look at your options and start looking for your next job, offered decent redundancy pay and maybe a bonus if you stay on to finish a project or wind down operations.

Unfortunately this isn’t always the case – and speaking from bitter experience, you may get an inkling things are not looking good and you turn up to work one day to be told sorry, that’s it, the company is in liquidation, go home as we can’t pay you, and you will need to apply through the HMRC for your statutory redundancy pay.

Whatever the circumstances around your redundancy, it can he hard to deal with if you take it too personally and don’t have a plan, but there are steps you can take:

Know your rights – check out the ACAS website, and your companies own redundancy policy to see what you should be entitled to

Don’t take it personally – these are business, not personal decisions that have been made, if you do decide to challenge the redundancy look at the facts and policies and not your emotions.

Dust off the CV – it may have been a while since you last wrote a CV, so spend some time looking at what you want out of your next job and how you can best show your skills and experience on paper

Update your LinkedIn – nowadays prospective employers will look at your LinkedIn and possibly social media accounts to double check career history

Do not bad mouth – in an interview do not criticise your previous employer or boss for what was a business decision, and do not insult them on social media! This will not show you in a professional light. You never know when your old boss may be looking for people for a team in his new company (true story)

Upskill – depending on your personal circumstances this may be a good time to do those courses you have always been too busy to do, there are plenty of online courses for little cost which will show you have used your time proactively while looking for your next job

Do not jump at the first opportunity – as tempting as it may be to start flinging your CV for any job and taking the first thing you get offered – pause. Think about what you want, what you will enjoy – think of this as your chance to take your career in the direction you want to go!

And lastly – ask for advice! Any recruitment agency worth their salt will take time to talk you through good places to look for jobs, how to maximise your potential on paper, interview hints and tips and provide industry insights.